Happy Birthday, AJ
by White Firebird
Summary: She couldn't believe that Dolph had forgotten her birthday...


**Hey everyone! Here's a little one shot I came up with the other day. As some of you know, it was AJ's birthday on the 19th, and well, this is a little story I came up as a way to honor our favorite crazy chick on her special day. Hope you all like it!**

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She watched the clock on her phone strike midnight. But she didn't feel any different than she did a year ago. Nothing special happened. Nope, just like last year, she sat there, alone, in the love of her life's dressing room, looking at her phone and watching as the screen lit up with texts from everyone ranging from her mother to her best friend, all of them wishing her the same thing.

"Yippie", AJ muttered to herself, somewhat bitterly. "Another birthday spent alone on the road. Oh the life I live."

Twiddling her thumbs around, sending thank you texts back to those who were wishing her well, she put her phone down for a moment and let a deep breath escape from her pink lips. She couldn't believe that this was happening to her again..._how could he?_ How could Dolph forget her birthday like this? Surely he had seen the early b-day wishes she had been getting in the mail and on Twitter from her devoted and loving fans from all around the world...right? He checked his account regularly, they traded playful, adorable banter back and forth, they did _everything_ together...but he was forgetting her birthday? It was unbelievable to her. It was one thing for that goat faced rat Daniel Bryan to forget last year, the World Heavyweight Title consuming his every thought and action, and she let it slide because at the time, she loved him, or thought she did. But Dolph? Dolph was everything she had ever wanted in a man...and then some...

Giving her head a shake and brushing away some of her dark brown locks, she stood up and, without noticing, walked face first into the massive chest of her friend and personal muscle, Big E Langston. It startled her for a second, but she quickly regained her composure and gave her rather large friend a weak smile. "Hey there, Big", she said, greeting him with the nickname she gave him. Peering around his whopping frame, a look of disappointment spread across her face after seeing that Dolph wasn't behind him.

The NXT transplant noticed this and raised a questioning brow at his tiny friend. "What's wrong, girl?", he asked her in his deep, booming voice. When AJ wouldn't look at him, he put his finger under her chin and lifted her head up to meet his gaze. "AJ...", he trailed off. "C'mon, talk to me. You know I listen to what you have to say."

She shook her head in denial. "It's nothing, Big, don't worry about it. I just need to go take a walk for a few minutes, okay?", she told him, praying he wouldn't push the issue any further. She got her wish when he nodded and stepped aside to grant her access to the door that led to the empty halls of the arena. But right before she could exit, she felt his jumbo sized hand on her delicate shoulder, turning her around. "What is it, Big?", she questioned irritably, feeling bad immediately for taking such a tone with him after seeing what was in his hands.

He held out for her a beautiful looking card and a single orange lily flower. They were...well, they were gorgeous. "Happy birthday, AJ", he said, cracking a smile as he watched her take them into her own hands, cradling them as if they were glass and they'd break if she dropped them. "Hope you like them", he then added, folding his arms across his huge chest.

Placing them down on a nearby chair, AJ walked up to him and gave him a hug, followed by a friendly peck on the cheek. This meant a lot to her. "Thanks, Big. They're beautiful...I don't know what else to say. I'm surprised you even remembered..."

"Hey, how could I forget my favorite little buddy's birthday?", he asked rhetorically, returning the hug. "I'll be here when you get back. See ya in a bit", he then said, releasing his hold and gently nudging her in the direction of the door, though for her, a gentle nudge from him was like a shoulder tackle, but she was out the door nonetheless.

The happiness and surprise she had experienced mere moments ago with Big E was now gone and replaced with hurt and heartbreak. Even _Big E_ remembered her birthday...she couldn't get over the fact that her boyfriend hadn't even sent her a text from where ever he was. It was like it would be just another day for the two of them, and while she didn't mind that...she thought he'd be one to remember such things like this. She thought wrong.

Keeping her head lowered as she walked the empty halls, her gaze on the floor and her bright red Converse, she didn't notice the collision course she was on with another body that was doing the same as her, and she bumped her head into the person's chest and fell to the ground. _'Damn it AJ, that's twice in five minutes...keep your head up when you're walking'_, she silently scolded herself as she looked up and saw who she knocked into and...oh.

"You?", the man murmured questioningly.

"Hey", she responded back quickly and tersely.

Before and above her stood none other than CM Punk. What **was it** about this time of year that had her running into her exes at every turn? Shaking her head of that thought, she went to get up, but was a bit shocked when he offered his tattooed hand to help her back to a vertical base. Gratefully accepting the help, she stood back up and brushed any dust off of her, before locking eyes with the former WWE Champion of four hundred and thirty four days. _'He looks so naked without that title on his shoulder or around his waist'_, she thought to herself as she was brought back to last summer...no. She wasn't going to think about that. She hadn't in a long time. No use in doing so now. "What're you doing out here in the halls?", she asked him.

He shrugged his shoulders, fiddling around with the zipper of his hoodie. "Just figured I'd take a walk. Needed to clear my head for a bit. I figure you're doing the same thing", he stated. He noticed the look of hurt in her eyes...he recognized it anywhere. "What's up with you?", he asked as casually as he could without sounding like he cared. She didn't need to know the truth. Not yet, at least.

AJ shook her head as if nothing was wrong. She forgot how clairvoyant he could be...she liked that about him, once upon a time..."Nothing. Just taking a walk, like you said. Well, I should be going now", she said in one breath, turning on her heel to try and get away as quickly as possible. But she should have known by now, there was no such thing as an easy way out of a talk with the man that once ruled her dreams and her heart with an iron, taped up, x'd off fist. Just the sound of his voice calling out to her and saying **'hey'** caused her to stop dead in her tracks. "What? Now you wanna talk?", she asked incredulously.

"It's been a while, so yeah, why not", he responded back. "We used to talk all the time, I figure we're due for a heart to heart", he said nonchalantly, rolling his neck and hearing it crack, which caused her to cringe inwardly. He could still see the hurt in her eyes. "So tell me what's got you so upset. It's plastered all over your eyes."

She couldn't believe the audacity of him to try and suggest that she was upset over something. _Of course_ she was. But she wasn't about to tell him that. "I'm fine, Punk. Don't worry about me. You've got bigger problems to deal with than an ex you stopped caring about a long time ago", she said angrily, alluding to his issues with the Deadman, before again turning to walk away, when once more, his voice stopped her before she could get anywhere.

"What if I told you that I didn't stop caring."

His voice sounded...genuine. A little vulnerable if she was being honest with herself. Facing him, the look on his face didn't match the tone of his voice, but she knew that he wasn't messing around here. But for all she knew, he could be fucking around with her emotions...he was quite adept at that. She made a mental note to keep her guard up just in case he was toying with her. "Why should I believe you?"

"Because when I say something, I mean it."

"That's the funniest thing you've ever said. It's also the biggest lie."

"Why can't you let last summer go?"

"I have let it go."

"No, you haven't. I can see it all over you. It still hurts you to think about it."

"I don't know what you're talking about, Punk."

"AJ..."

"Just shut up!", she suddenly and fiercely yelled at him. "Just...**shut up!** I was doing fine before **you** came along! This is supposed to be a good day for me, and I'm not going to let you or anyone else who remembers it or not ruin it!"

That's when it hit him. He should have known. "Ziggler forgot it's your birthday today, didn't he."

AJ glared up at him, trying her best to not cry. But the emotion was too much for her to bear...so she let one tear fall, and one led to another...the next thing she knew, she was leaning her head against Punk's chest, alternating between shedding tears and pounding forcefully on his chest. He didn't make any attempt to stop her; he silently reasoned that he knew he deserved this for his past transgressions against her. He had broken many a heart in his life, but he found himself sometimes wishing that he hadn't torn apart hers. There was just something about her that drove him, ironically, crazy, during their fling last summer. _Something about her..._

His thoughts were disrupted once more with another powerful fist banging into his chest, one that nearly took the wind out of his lungs. He made a point to stop her from doing it again by grabbing her incoming fist and putting it behind her back, doing the same with her other free hand, now having her pinned up against his body. "Calm down, crazy lady...you might actually kill me with one of those weapons you call fists."

She let the **'c'** word go and instead tried to wipe away the tears. "Why can't I ever find someone who cares?", she asked rhetorically, though he felt it was more so directed at him. Letting go of her hands, quieted her with a finger to her lips, whispering in her ear that he'd be right back. After a few moments of making AJ wait, Punk returned holding a box in his hand. Thrusting it forward into her clutches, he stepped back a bit and shoved his hands into his pockets. He looked like he wanted to run off as quickly as possible when he had the chance.

"Here. That's for you. It's nothing special. Open it when you're alone. It's not meant for Ziggler's eyes. Hope you uh...hope you like it."

He then made a beeline for somewhere far away from her. He didn't wait around to see her open the box the second his back was to her. She looked inside and...she didn't know how or what to feel when she saw the note that came attached to the custom made shirts he had given her. It was just like the ones she wore out to the ring...except they were of his bright yellow GTS one, and another of his most recent one, his Knees 2 Faces shirt that ripped off The Rock. They were pretty...but she was focussed on the note. She read it to herself over and over in the span of thirty seconds.

Dropping the box on the floor, she turned on her heel and ran down the hall after him, catching up to him and jumping onto his back, tackling him to the ground and getting him to flip over so that she was on top, straddling him. Before he could get out a word, she dove down and kissed him, hard, with every ounce of passion she could muster out of her little body. They remained like that for a solid two minutes, breaking off after the need for air became too much. "So, I take it you read the note", he said, looking up into her eyes.

She nodded her head rapidly. "I forgot how you have a way with words."

The ghost of a smile spread across his lips. "Wasn't kidding. When I say something...I mean it."

Standing up and helping him up this time, AJ placed another kiss on his cheek, taking him by the hand and dragging him over to her gifts. Plucking the note from the box, she handed it to him and smiled. "Read it aloud. I want to hear your voice say these words."

Grinning and shaking his head, Punk obliged her. "I've made mistakes. Breaking things off with you was one of them. But that was then, this is now. I know you're dating Ziggy, as you love to call him, but if it doesn't work out...then let's give us a try again. You wanted a day to remember, and I hope I succeeded in doing that for you."

He felt her lips on his cheek again and her arms around his waist in a tight hug. It felt good.

"Happy birthday, AJ."

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**And that's that. Hope y'all liked it! And a happy belated birthday to AJ! You're the best Diva they've got, even if they won't admit it.**


End file.
